Eye on 2014 polls: Congress Working Committee appoints Rahul Gandhi as party vice president

Rahul Gandhi, 42-year-old scion of the all-powerful Nehru-Gandhi family, was on Saturday appointed vice-president of the Congress - a move that indicates that the party is not averse to pitting him against Narendra Modi and fielding him as its prime ministerial candidate.

The announcement marked the culmination of a well-orchestrated campaign, with younger leaders making a strong pitch for assigning a formal, more important role for him in the run-up to the chintan shivir in Jaipur.

X

Rahul, in his acceptance message, thanked his party colleagues in the Congress Working Committee (CWC). "Please continue with your cooperation. Last eight years I have received your cooperation, and together we can transform this country...I have learnt a lot from seniors," he said.

His elevation was formalised at a meeting of the CWC which unanimously adopted a resolution in this regard moved by defence minister A. K. Antony. Congress president Sonia Gandhi also endorsed it. Rahul will address the AICC session in Jaipur on Sunday.

Janardan Dwivedi, chief spokesperson of the party, made the much-awaited announcement to reporters midway through the CWC meeting that was held on the sidelines of the party's two-day Chintan Shivir (brainstorming session). Dwivedi, however, said any election or campaign-related decisions would be taken at a later stage.

Caught unawares

Many senior leaders of the party were caught unawares by the announcement, though the political challenges committee and the panel on organisation had proposed that Rahul be given a bigger role.

A debate has been raging within the party over the plus and minus points of a probable Rahul vs Modi contest in 2014. The party, it is evident, now feels that it will be at an advantageous position vis-Ã -vis BJP in case of such a battle. The decision to elevate Rahul comes a day after Sonia came out strongly in favour of tweaking party policy towards "new changing India peopled by a younger generation". Rahul, who so far was one of the 19 general secretaries of the party, will be the only vice president in the organisation.

As the officially-designated No. 2 in the party, the 42-year-old leader faces several challenges. His foremost task will be to check the party's slide and make it more appealing to the people, especially the youth and the middle class who have expressed their disaffection with the Congress-led government at the Centre over its failure to rein in spiralling prices and corruption.

Scouting for allies

With parties such as Trinamool Congress, AIMIM and Jharkhand Vikas Morcha exiting the UPA, he will have to scout around for new allies. The party's organisational apparatus is moribund in the Hindi heartland states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, and other bigger states such as Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat.

The announcement was celebrated with bursting of crackers at the shivir venue. "It is a reason for double celebration for me because it happened in my home state Rajasthan, and at the chintan shivir. Rahul Gandhi is someone whose appeal cuts across caste, religion, and creed. I would want him to be formerly announced as the PM candidate for us in 2014. He will surely revive us and energise us," said Union minister Sachin Pilot.

His ministerial colleague Milind Deora said: "It is a consensus and feeling in the shivir that youths should be empowered."

Several Congress leaders, including Rajiv Shukla, Jitin Prasada, Sachin Pilot, RPN Singh and Mani Shankar Aiyar, have batted for larger responsibility for Rahul. Many others such as Raj Babbar, Avtar Singh Badhana and Sanjay Nirupam had demanded that he should be declared Congress's PM candidate before the party goes to next Lok Sabha polls.

The day one of the Chintan Shivir on Friday had all the trappings of Rahul's impending elevation. Over 100 Youth Congress and NSUI men who were special invitees to the brainstorming session at Rahul's behest were gung ho.

The GenNext which had an inkling of the impending decision to anoint Rahul as vice president had started burning crackers by the time the chintan shivir concluded. Rajasthan youth Congress president Pawan Bulwara arrived at the venue with a busload of party workers celebrating the youth icon's promotion. They danced and burst crackers.

Union minister Veerappa Moily said: "Rahul is already a leader. We have stable leaders and we are proud of them."

Rahul will arrive in the Capital around 4 pm on Sunday. Leaders of Youth Congress and NSUI have been asked to be present at the airport in big numbers to welcome him.